Police: Boy steals teacher's car, then other students punch, stab classmate they think is snitch

When her keys disappeared from her classroom, the teacher thought she'd just misplaced them.

A few days later, police say, a sixth-grade student was caught taking her car for a joy ride. The 13-year-old boy abandoned the car a few hundred feet from the school, William Dandy Middle, and soon was arrested.

But the trouble didn't stop there. At school the next day, five students, ages 13 to 15, punched and stabbed a classmate they thought snitched about the theft, according to police reports.

Now, six students are facing felony charges: grand theft of a motor vehicle for the boy accused of stealing the car, aggravated battery for the three boys and two girls who allegedly attacked the "snitch."

The principal of the Fort Lauderdale school did not return a call. The teacher whose car was taken declined to comment, and the families of the six defendants — who are not being named because they're juveniles — either declined to comment or could not be reached.

District officials said the two situations, which happened March 2 and March 3, were quickly under control.

"In both of these incidents, staff and school police responded immediately," Broward County schools spokeswoman Nadine Drew said.

The student attacked Thursday had minor injuries, she said. A police report said his parents drove him to the hospital after declining paramedic services. His condition was not available Friday.

According to police reports, the problems began around dismissal time on March 2, a Wednesday.

Staff saw the sixth-grader climbing into the car. Then, an assistant principal radioed that he saw it heading down Northwest 26th Avenue. School Resource Officer Paul Johnson took off after it and spotted the car running, but empty, in front of 2468 NW 26th St.

"The student did not get very far with the car," Drew said.

Johnson found the 13-year-old boy nearby. His pants were torn — apparently from when he was "jumping fences to get away."

The next day, Johnson was in his office when he heard a commotion. He ran out and found a group beating a student in the office area of the school. The victim was bleeding through his jeans and had two stab wounds in his thigh, Johnson wrote in his report.

A pocket knife was found on a 15-year-old girl, who according to police admitted to the stabbing.

"They felt that (the victim) had snitched and told the police what occurred so they planned on 'jumping' him after school, but they saw him in the front office and ... all jumped in and assaulted him," Johnson wrote.

Next to a category on the reports marked "reaction of child," he claimed that the six teens didn't care.

The teen who allegedly stole the car was turned over to his parents, while the other five were taken to a county Juvenile Assessment Center. At least one of them — a 15-year-old boy accused of throwing a punch — remained there on Friday, according to his attorney.

William Dandy Middle, which earned A's and B's from the state over the last 10 years, enrolls 1,093 students at its campus on Northwest 26th Avenue, west of Interstate 95. It features a pre-medical magnet program that was named a 2016 Magnet School of Excellence by Magnet Schools of America, a national association.

Principal Shernette Grant described the school as a "hidden gem" in a message to parents on the school's website. She added that the safety and security of children is her top priority, and said the school had seen a drop in critical incidents over the past four years.